Upgraded joysticks: well worth it!

[klippel]

I recently installed the Gulikit electromagnetic sticks in my deck and they are awesome. I was able to reduce the dead zone to the lowest setting possible, but settled on just a few ticks above that for usability. They are remarkably responsive now and i dont have to worry about stick drift.
One solder point is required on each stick for the capacitive touch feature (actually, i am not sure if it would throw any errors if you just left it unattached if you do not use that feature).
Something i ran into during the install was the wire for capacitive touch snagging when moving the stick in a circular pattern since the wire is exactly the right length so you need to make sure it sits in just the right way to avoid that.
Was is neccessary? no. Was it worth the time and $25-30? I think so!

check out my shitty soldering skills!

 

[t1337duder]

Pretty neat, thanks for sharing. I know very little about the Steam Deck modding scene - is there anything to address the buttons, D-Pad, or triggers? The joysticks have been the least of my issues but it's good to know that they can be improved upon. Having said that, my left stick has always had an abrasive rub when pushed north and steering it around the perimeter. To be honest I love everything about the Steam Deck except for the controller aspect. The trackpads work pretty well and impress me but everything else just feels very cheap. For example, my B button would stick if pressed too often. Seems like a common issue. If possible I want to replace all of it (especially the shoddy triggers).

 

[klippel]

Pretty neat, thanks for sharing. I know very little about the Steam Deck modding scene - is there anything to address the buttons, D-Pad, or triggers? The joysticks have been the least of my issues but it's good to know that they can be improved upon. Having said that, my left stick has always had an abrasive rub when pushed north and steering it around the perimeter. To be honest I love everything about the Steam Deck except for the controller aspect. The trackpads work pretty well and impress me but everything else just feels very cheap. For example, my B button would stick if pressed too often. Seems like a common issue. If possible I want to replace all of it (especially the shoddy triggers).

I did not have to do anything software-wire, but i did recalibrate them with the built in calibration tool in the command line and adjusted the dead zone to be smaller.
That rub you feel is most likely the wire that is seen in my pics catching the joystick. If you are feeling adventurous, you can take the back of the deck off, unscrew the joystick module and move the wire out of the way without having to resolder it. I looped mine kind of off to the side and onto itself rather than how it originally was, wrapped around the stick. I hope that makes sense.
My B button also sticks once in a while. I hope some company comes out with some better version of the buttons (or valve release a fix, which would be best) It hasnt been too bad, but i would spend a few bucks to fix it if possible.
Overall, modding is more plugging in new parts like a PC and less like traditional modding where you have to know how to code and drastically changing the hardware.